Chapters:

There was that strangeness that followed me. Here I was a part of
the war, yet, that full reality had not struck within my mind. As
I continued to walk, there to my right I noticed a twisted form
of metal lying within the grass. It had been bent in many
different directions but still had the shape and form of a once
brand new huey helicopter. I stood there and stared at the form
for a good moment and let the thoughts ponder within my mind.
There was the charred remains of a once beautiful tree near the
wreckage. It had that black charcoal look of having been in
intense fire. There were a few thick branches left but that was
all that remained of the tree.

���� I began to explore the wreckage further to look for clues of
it being. It seemed like it had been on the ground awhile. There
was twisted vines growing up through the metal that gave it
vintage. The instrument panel had been stripped clean of all the
radios and navigation equipment. Reflection had made me think
that it was left over from the initial battle for the AN KHE
area. This had been the scene of some of the bloodiest battles of
the war in the 65 and 66 era. Know the action had been shipped up
to the D.M.Z. area and surrounding. It seemed that over five
hundred soldiers had lost their lives securing this area for the
First Cav. Know it was the base camp of the Cav. but was only
used as a staging area for the move up north.

���� The base itself was only an area of a few square miles. The
price had seemed expensive with the quietness of the time and
place. It just didn't�make sense the loss of the lives and the
securing of the land. Maybe this was my own naivety and lack of
understanding of war and its real ramifications. Yet, the
realities were starting to fall into place as the time went by.

����� Then, I had turned around to look at the river and the
surrounding area that was outside the wire. It was an alien land
a civilization of people that lived out there. They had a totally
different life style than that of the United States. The homes
were of a shanty construction and had the full pallor of slums
and decay. The homes were made of mud and woven weed cloth of
vines that had been picked locally. Sometimes there were the
spotted resemblance of tin that had been pounded out of left over
beer cans. These were flattened out to make a roof that was water
proof next to the woven reeds. Yes, there was very little
resemblance to the homes in the states. There was that lack of
modern civilization that was so well known to me. It seemed like
I was thrown back five hundred years in the past to some alien
land. There was the lack of telephone poles that one took for
granted. The paved streets with the hustle and bustle of cars was
missing to the eyes and ears.

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����� All this was the illusion of the present moment. The now
reality was the total abstract of the past. There was a gap
between me and the Vietnamese people. There was that knowledge of
instinct that gathers in ones mind when placed within an alien
environment. It came from that deep part of the soul and
instinct. The AN KHE base was becoming like a giant spaceship to
me. We that were on the inside, were the aliens of the war. Why
were we in this tightly knit camp. Outside was the fresh air and
the open spaces. It was still all too strange to me. There seem
to be that alien feeling of not being wanted. This seemed to
emanate from the town that was outside of the green-line. Yes,
the war was strange and the whole environment was strange along
with it. It just seemed like the Vietnamese people wanted us to
leave them alone.

���� The town of AN KHE was located outside the green-line. The
river that flowed through the town also went through the base
camp. The town itself was very small with one main street going
through it. This street had been paved by the army with
penoprime. The town itself was considered one of the larger towns
in Viet Nam. Yet, it seemed small to me. Maybe this was because
of my lack of travel and the complete domestic life of the United
States. In the back of the town was a stretch of mountains that
went southward. AN KHE itself was located in the central
highlands of the country. The elevation of the land was in the
neighborhood of two thousand feet. There was one mountain named
four mile mountain that rose above the rest of the range. This by
some strange coincidence was at the departure and approach end of
our runway. The mountain was not�four miles high but gave that
appearance when a plane�departed from the runway.

����� Off to my left there was a guy coming toward me. He was one
of the F.N.G.s that had arrived in the country with in the
previous week. He had that same lost and disillusioned look that
all of us had at that period of time. He said, there was going to
be a formation in about ten minutes. Well the army was still the
same in Viet Nam, with its formations. It was to happen on
the�other side of the barracks in the clearing near the mess
hall. Well at least there was going to be something finally
happening. Maybe there would be a lifting to the cloud, that was
in each one of our heads.

���� In about ten minutes, I wandered over to the area of the
formation. There was about ten or fifteen guys all wandering
around in that lost army fashion. It had a particular ring to it.
You could tell all the guys were new by the new boots and army
jungle fatigues, that hung in the new manner. There was also that
crisp starchiness that rang of the changing times. It sort of
felt like the day each one of us were first introduced into the
army. There was that stoic unsureness and lack of confidence.��